Ponderings
by Crookykanks
Summary: How dare she? Embarrassing Miss Galinda in that fashion and even letting on that they were roommates! How dare she! Miss Galinda ponders on her roommate.


Galinda Arduennas of the Upper Uplands was _pissed_.

Storming down the halls of the Crage building, she knew in the back of her seething mind that she was a sight, her dresses askew on her well-curved frame and golden curls dangling limp. Her usually cheerful face was contorted beyond recognition by the overwhelming loathing she was faced with and her prim heels clicked sharply against the stone floor, echoing down the halls in short angry beats. It was fortunate, she would later reckon, that no one had occupied these halls at that time as she probably would've mowed them down without a notice. At the present however, Miss Galinda could not bring herself to care.

How could Miss Elphaba have insulted her so? Bringing herself upon the great society of Misses Pfannee and Shenshen, and wearing that _disgusting_ frock on top of everything. Why, it was nearly transparent from wear and hadn't been in fashion for at least ten decades, if _then_. It had taken Miss Galinda nearly all her strength not to scream and shout at the black draped bamboo pole of a girl who had so rudely barged in on her river picnic. Oh, she had thought she might simply keel over dead.

And _then_, to share the fact that they were _roommates!_ How could she sink so low? Miss Galinda was well aware that her roomie was far from sociable, but who would have known she was so brutishly _honest_? Why, Miss Galinda had wished a curse on her health the moment the words had formed on those jaded lips. And who wouldn't have? Miss Galinda would surely never live this humiliation down. Surely now she would be the outcast of society, the pretty girl with the irritating string bean tag along, always pestering her for fashion bits or social aids. Or worse, she would be the _pitiable_! There was no worse fate in all of society than to be known by all as the one who was worthy of all, but had none, and all because of her stupid roomie. Her socially ignorant, frustratingly critical, stupidly _green_ roomie.

Her mind sinking deeper into these frightful thoughts of disgrace and humiliation throughout Crage Hall, Miss Galinda thrust open the door of her dorm without any of her usual drama or grace. It seemed the wood had slammed loudly into the wall behind it before her hand had even had the chance to touch it, that her current state had forced the handle to turn out of fear of being burned from the heat of her hate.

"Miss Elph-"

Miss Galinda looked around, but her irritating roomie had evidently anticipated her arrival and fled. Or perhaps had been gone sometime now, out at the library or with that Goat she loved so much. The _only_ being she seemed to love – or even _like_ – at all.

She flounced down onto her bed, barely missing the headboard as she landed gracefully, the burn of her anger already chilling in the room. Miss Galinda had never been able to hold a grudge. What exactly _had_ Miss Elphaba said anyhow? That she would surely be in trouble if Morrible had discovered her absence? Well, perhaps, but Miss Galinda had known _that_, no it must have simply been the tone that set it off: that _warning_ voice with just the hair of exasperation and anxiety that only Miss Elphaba could ever deliver.

Only Miss Elphaba. Miss Galinda stole a moment to ponder her essentially unexplainable roomie. In the process of it all, Miss Galinda pondered Miss Elphaba's passion, her vibrance, her cynicism, her stoic dress, the usual things that needed pondering when it came to Miss Elphaba. It was then, in the strangeness more inexplicably linked to Miss Galinda's pondering in itself than the strange and incomprehensible actions of Miss Elphaba, that Miss Galinda found herself pondering her _own_ passions, vibrance, cynicism and dress, and then found herself pondering the absurdity of all her pondering. When had such thoughts ever helped her in the slightest, socially or intellectually? Now was not a time for that to change. In society a woman such as herself did not need to ponder either of or as another, but merely needed to _know_. To know her self, to know her colors, her dress, her styles, her voice… her words… her place…_her limits_.

That was the thing with Miss Elphaba. To Miss Galinda's eyes, she was but an unusual girl, one with a great past and surely an intriguing future. To Misses Pfannee and Shenshen, she was but an annoyance, like a tick that sucked what it needed, infected what it had sucked and then moved on to pester another. To the boys of Briscoe Hall, she seemed an absurd regularity (if such a contradiction were possible.) Always unexpectedly there and always with the answers none other could find, delivered with sarcasm to impose the simplicity of it all.

But in her own eyes lay the greatest contradiction it seemed. Miss Elphaba appeared to see herself as a variety of things, most of them as inexplicable as the girl herself. Miss Elphaba saw herself as both fierce and weak, both strong and vulnerable, revolutionary and conservative, impassioned and soulless…

…limitless and limited…

A sudden hacking noise tore Miss Galinda away from her concentrated thoughts. Questioningly, she looked at the firmly shut door of the dorm's bathroom where it seemed the noise had originated from. It began again, a terrible choking as though some poor creature was having the life slowly sucked out of it breath by breath. And then an accompanying retching, followed once again by wheezing gasps for air. Startled, Miss Galinda hurried over to the bathroom door and pushed it open gently, surprised to find it unlocked.

Miss Elphaba laid there, pallid, trembling and gripping the toilet with whitened knuckles. As she weakly lifted herself to continue her retching, Miss Galinda felt herself gasp. Never before had she seen anyone so diseased. Certainly she had seen others puke, even violently, but never with the voracity that seemed to grip her roomies surely empty stomach. And certainly she had _never_ seen formidable Miss Elphaba in such a state. Moving slowly toward the suddenly much more human girl, she absent mindedly noted that Miss Elphaba, had she noticed her roomie's presence, did not even have the strength now to send her away. Unconsciously, Miss Galinda made her way behind the green girl and delicately pulled back her hair. Miss Elphaba gave a start at the contact, but was once again forced to lower her face to the toilet, unable to tell Miss Galinda to let go or leave the room entirely.

For several long minutes they stood there in the bathroom, Miss Elphaba choking out whatever her strange illness could lay hold to and Miss Galinda delicately holding her hair and feeling decidedly uneasy. She watched Miss Elphaba shake with both defiance at Miss Galinda seeing her in such a state and fear of what would happen to her unnaturally thin body should she continue to spill it out. Miss Galinda idly wondered how long she had been there. Surely not since she had left the socialites an hour ago after humiliating Miss Galinda with a trifling sentence… but perhaps? She certainly had not gone in or come out since Miss Galinda had entered the room. How much time had Miss Galinda spent in her ponderings anyhow? Five minutes? Ten? Half an hour? No, even Miss Galinda knew of herself that she couldn't simply sit and think for that long. Miss Elphaba's racked form feebly attempted to pull the hair from Miss Galinda's dainty hand, which suddenly felt horribly soiled. Miss Galinda forced her thoughts back to the present (when had they left?) and gathered her roomie's hair in a firmer grip, chancing a look at the toilet.

Was that blood Miss Galinda saw floating below in the disgusting muck thrown up from Miss Elphaba's stomach? Feeling suddenly overcome with a wave of nausea herself, Miss Galinda turned her face toward the now open door leading back to her room, careful not to drop the silken locks she held in her hand. Oh, how terribly undignified she must look, holding the hair of this hideous girl as she launched her insides to the toilet. Miss Galinda made to shoot a glare at her roomie, but the pitiful state of Miss Elphaba softened her look, not even into one of pity, but of… well, she wasn't sure…anxiety? Concern? That hardly mattered now.

Unexpectedly, Miss Elphaba swayed viciously and threatened to follow her insides into the toilet headfirst. With a start and a frightened squeak, Miss Galinda surprised herself by leaning down and grabbing her roomie around her waist, keeping her propped upright against her own smaller body. Miss Elphaba's head lolled uncertainly on Miss Galinda's bare shoulder and Miss Galinda couldn't help but feel sullied and nauseated. It was only the abrupt halt to Miss Elphaba's raked and shaky breaths that kept grounded Miss Galinda from her lingering thoughts (where had _they_ come from?). Feeling harshly cold and alone with her roomie's deathly still form sprawled across her chest, Miss Galinda found a strength she hadn't realized she possessed. She threw Miss Elphaba's limp body to the floor and pressed hard on her flat stomach, willing her to wake up. Miss Elphaba, however ungracious and socially inept she may have been, was not going to choke on her own vomit after fainting in the dorm bathroom. Miss Galinda could not imagine anything worse, not that she tried. All her efforts were now to be concentrated on the brutally vulnerable girl before her.

Miss Galinda felt immediately relieved when Miss Elphaba's eyes fluttered open, and then resentful as the flutter became wide-eyed shock and she promptly tried to empty her guts all over Galinda's afternoon gown. Galinda pulled away, but for the small amount of thin red fluid that flowed from her roommate's mouth, she really needn't have bothered. Still willing the illness to leave Miss Elphaba's body, she once again grabbed the wire thin waist before her and gingerly held the girl against her until her breathing had slowed and steadied.

"Th-Thank you"

Miss Elphaba's voice was harsh, unnatural, but Miss Galinda didn't take note. Instead, she asked if she was feeling all right. Miss Elphaba weakly raised an eyebrow on her sunken pastel face, which plainly said "Are you kidding?" Miss Galinda shrugged and slowly helped Miss Elphaba to her feet and guided her stumbling roomie to the bed.

"Would you like a glass of water?"

Miss Galinda was met this time with both eyebrows raised as high as Miss Elphaba could manage. The point well taken, Miss Galinda made sure her roommate was comfortable and able to reach the bathroom again should the need arise. She was just changing into her nightgown (blue ruffled with lining along the bust and princess seams) when Miss Elphaba's voice arose from her bed.

"Miss Galinda, could I trouble you to fetch one of my oils? The rosewood. It's just that I feel positively disgusting and I'm not sure I can manage--"

Without a word, Miss Galinda hurried to the grimy bathroom, fetched the oil and handed it to Miss Elphaba, who gingerly opened the red tinted bottle and applied it's contents liberally to her face, chest and hands. Sensing her discomfort, Miss Galinda continued to prep herself for the night, her thoughts disconnected and distant. She was drained and felt oddly raw.

"Thank you, again, Miss Galinda--"

"For fetching that little bottle? That was no--"

"No." The smooth calmness of Miss Elphaba's voice startled Miss Galinda as no shriek or shout ever could have, "For holding my hair. It meant a great deal to me. Thank you for helping."

Miss Galinda lay very still as Miss Elphaba closed her bottle of rosewood oil and blew out her light. An odd chill swept through the room as the company of Miss Elphaba was lost to slumber, but Miss Galinda was preoccupied once again with her recently acquired ponderings. These ponderings of curses, friendships, passion, power and love comforted and accompanied her until she joined her roommate in the much more pleasant land of sleep.


End file.
